Preface

In this story I have endeavoured to realize some of the
influences that surrounded the youth of America a hundred years
ago, and made of them, first, good citizens, and, later, in the
day of peril, heroes that won the battles of Lake Erie,
Plattsburg, and New Orleans, and the great sea fights of Porter,
Bainbridge, Decatur, Lawrence, Perry, and MacDonough.

I have especially dwelt in detail on the woodland and peace
scouting in the hope that I may thus help other boys to follow
the hard-climbing trail that leads to the higher uplands.

For the historical events of 1812-14, I have consulted among
books chiefly, Theodore Roosevelt's "Naval War of 1812," Peter S.
Palmer's "History of Lake Champlain," and Walter Hill Crockett's
"A History of Lake Champlain," 1909. But I found another and
more personal mine of information. Through the kindness of my
friend, Edmund Seymour, a native of the Champlain region, now a
resident of New York, I went over all the historical ground with
several unpublished manuscripts for guides, and heard from the
children of the sturdy frontiersmen new tales of the war; and in
getting more light and vivid personal memories, I was glad,
indeed, to realize that not only were there valour and heroism on
both sides, but also gentleness and courtesy. Histories written
by either party at the time should be laid aside. They breathe
the rancourous hate of the writers of the age --the fighters felt
not so --and the many incidents given here of chivalry and
consideration were actual happenings, related to me by the
descendants of those who experienced them; and all assure me that